MAROTTA BAFFLED

Juventus general manager Beppe Marotta says that he is baffled by the decision of Argentine national team manager Alejandro Sabella not to involve Carlos Tevez in the national team squad in the last few years. The former Manchester city man has not played for the national team since 2011. His last appearance in a major competition for Argentina was in the Copa America in 2011. His absence has been classified as due to non-football reasons, which is even more surprising for Marotta since he finds Tevez as one of the professional players he has worked with.

Tevez moved to Juventus in an £ 10 million deal from Manchester city and he has been one of the regular first-team players for Antonio Conte’s men. Even though the presence of Tevez has failed to inspire them to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League, he is proving to be more than an important player by helping the team reached the semifinals of the Europa league. Tevez has already scored 18 goals in the league this year. It is because of these reasons that Marotta finds it hard to justify that the 30-year-old has been omitted from the national team squad on a regular basis.

Marotta also says that Tevez is one of the few players who aspires to wear the national team jersey. “Clearly Tevez is a man and therefore aspires to wear the jersey of his country, especially at a World Cup. He deserves it for his talents, but the coach makes his decisions. I think it is down to non-football situations we don’t know. As a professional, Tevez accepts this decision with disappointment, but understanding, realising he can gain satisfaction elsewhere in his career,” said Marotta.

Argentina open the World Cup 2014 with a match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.